1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharged air current control apparatus of a room air conditioner and a method thereof by which the direction and speed of air discharged from the air conditioner are controlled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An air conditioner according to the prior art is formed, as illustrated in FIG. 1, with an indoor body 1 having a lower suction grille member 5 employing a plurality of suction inlets 3 for sucking in room air. At an upper front side of the body 1, there is formed a discharging outlet 7 for discharging indoors the heat-exchanged air (i.e., cool air or warm air).
Furthermore, the suction inlet 7 is provided with vertical and horizontal vanes 11 and 9, respectively, for controlling the flow direction of air discharged indoors via the discharge outlet 7. The body 1 is fixed to a cover member 13 for forming a pleasing external appearance of the indoor unit and for protecting its contents therein.
The cover member 13 is provided with a manipulating unit (control panel) 15 for controlling an operation mode (automatic, cooling, dehumidifying, air blowing, heating and the like), operation start/stop, and amount and direction of air discharged via the discharge outlet 7.
Furthermore, behind the suction grille member 5 there is arranged, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a filtering member 17 for filtering-out foreign objects such as dust and the like floating in the room air sucked via the suction inlet 3. The filtering member 17 is disposed upstream of a heat exchanger 19 for exchanging heat with the filtered room air according to an evaporation latent heat of refrigerant.
The heat exchanger 19 is equipped at an upper part thereof with an indoor fan 23 which is rotated according to a drive of an indoor motor 21 so as to suck the room air via the suction inlet 3 and simultaneously to discharge indoors the heat-exchanged air via the discharge outlet 7.
The indoor fan 23 is encased within a duct member 25 for guiding the flow of the air to the discharge outlet 7.
In the air conditioner thus constructed, when a user manipulates a remote controller or the manipulating unit 15 to select a desired operation mode and to turn on an operation key, the indoor fan 23 is rotated by the indoor fan motor 21 to cause the room air to be sucked into the body 1 through the suction inlet 3.
Foreign objects such as dust and the like floating in the room air sucked into the suction inlet 3 are removed while they are passing through the filtering member 17, and the filtered room air is heat-exchanged by the evaporative latent heat of the refrigerant flowing in the heat exchanger 19 while it passes through the heat exchanger 19.
The air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger 19 is guided upward by the duct member 25 to thereafter be discharged indoors via the discharge outlet 7, and the direction of air discharged through the discharge outlet 7 is adjusted to the left or to the right and up or down according to the angles of the vertical air direction vanes 11 and the horizontal air direction vanes 9.
At this time, whenever an operation key disposed at the manipulating unit 15 for controlling the position of the vanes 9 is turned on, the vanes 9 are rotated vertically, and whenever the key is turned off, the rotation of the vanes 9 is stopped.
Furthermore, when an operation key at the manipulating unit 15 for controlling the position of the vanes 11 is turned on, the vanes 11 are continuously swung horizontally, and when the key is turned on again, the swinging of the vanes 11 is stopped.
However, there is a problem in the conventional air conditioner thus constructed in that a user must visually ascertain positions of the vanes 9 and 11 and operate a key to seek a desired discharging air current pattern, causing an inconvenience to the user. Also, the air is discharged in a fixed direction according to the angles of the vanes 9 and 11 which means that the air current in the room is fixed, and areas not reached by the air current may not be adequately conditioned.
Thus, it would be necessary to make angle adjustments of the vanes 9 and 11 at predetermined intervals to air condition the entire room. Also, if an increased amount of air is needed for air conditioning a remote area of the room, the user must adjust not only the air current direction but also the air speed.